Webspinners Tales of Spider-Man #13

Background

Mary Jane Watson-Parker is lost and presumed dead in an airplane crash. Peter,
meanwhile, is taking a jaunt through the Negative Zone with the symbiote-less
Cletus Kasady. (Hey, different people cope in different ways!)

The issue opens with a shadowy figure telling the story of two people. One,
Cletus Kasady, is in custody minus his Carnage symbiote, which Venom consumed in
PP:SM #9. The other is Peter Parker, "kept... awake [by] the loss of his true
love." While he swings off into the night, Kasady feels a strange calling and
manages to break out of jail with the police hot on his tail. Before Spider-Man
can subdue him, the van and both figures get sucked into some sort of
black-hole-looking gateway.

Falling through the distortion area - kind of a "no man's land" between the real
world and the Negative Zone, Spidey loses his hold on Carnage, falls into a
maelstrom of some kind and emerges wearing what I assume is the "Spider-Man
Unlimited" costume (anyone who's seen the cartoon or the comic want to back me
up here?) Before he (or I, for that matter) can understand what's going on,
Spider-Man takes the opportunity to help out a stranger he sees tumbling into
the same maelstrom. But before he can get his bearings the two land on the
surface of some strange planet and come face to face with... "Blastaar - The
Living Bomburst!"

It seems Mr. Bomburst was trying to open a rift in the distortion area to march
his armies through and attack the real world, a plot foiled by Spidey and our
mystery guest, whom Blastaar recognizes. Realizing that discretion is the better
part of valor, the two beat a hasty retreat into the bowels of the city while
Blastaar starts, well, blasting things. They meet a crowd of refugees, who also
recognize the stranger. Remember Dusk, the guy who gave Spidey his nifty
all-black costume back in Identity Crisis? None other.

Oh, and Cletus Kasady drops in to join up with Blastaar, but that's a story for
next issue.

General Comments

You have GOT to be kidding me!

A few questions. First: if one of the purposes of this series was to expose
Spiderphiles to artists and authors they might not have seen before, why is
Howard Mackie writing this storyline? Love the guy or hate him, he's already got
the two main titles under his wing. Why are we seeing him here?

Second: Okay, we never learned the identity of Norman Osborn's Green Goblin
flunky. Jack O' Lantern is a big mystery. Two huge plot threads left dangling in
the breeze, and we get DUSK? Forget asking why Mackie wrote this
storyline, why this storyline at all? Other than the three or four people whose
letters on these issues will be published on the letters page, is there anyone
out there who gave a rip about Dusk, Blastaar, and this rebellion? It was a good
setup to give Peter one of his "Identity Crisis" costumes in Peter Parker:
Spider Man #90. That's it. To come back to it now is a waste of time. (But, if
you insist on coming back, can we have a little plot exposition here? What is
going on? Is this just another cardboard cutout "evil tyrant tormenting helpless
people just for the fun of it" types of stories? I'll pass)

Third, I don't understand what the SM:Unlimited costume had to do with
anything. Were I a cynical person I might suspect that it's appearance was
solely to draw attention to the new comic/cartoon series. But regardless, maybe
someone who has read/watched Spider-Man: Unlimited might catch on, but it's my
suspicion that the bulk of the readers haven't, and unless I'm being remarkably
dense I'm guessing I'm not the only one scratching my head. What is this thing
and why did Spidey suddenly end up wearing it? Can't we just have a
little plot exposition, please?

And finally, why were Kasady's eyes completely red during the entire issue?
Distracting.

Overall Rating

The worst part about this issue is that we still have one to go? Can it get any
worse? Do I want to know the answer to that question? One web.